


Mariposa Heart

by Itch



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Artist!Gabriel, Butterflies, Fluff, Happy Ending, London, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Musician!Sam, Pining, Skype, Slow Burn, Snow, cuteness, death of a family member, more to be added - Freeform, paintings, piano playing, soulmate!AU, travelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 00:51:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6832183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itch/pseuds/Itch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel Novak is possibly the most cynical bastard on Earth. He hides and guards himself with such fervour that he doesn’t even use colours to show emotions in his paintings; he sticks to blacks, whites and greys. it’s not until he gets the break of his career, a trip to London for a exhibition of his paintings. Whilst he’s in London he meets a young man who play the piano with such emotion that it moves even the Man of Monochrome. </p>
<p>But as time passes on Gabriel realises his life is crumbling around him and all the paint in the world couldn’t cover over the cracks that he desperately wanted to hide from Sam. A phone call, a bottle of sky blue paint and a red light plane ticket later and the two of them start to open up and let their secrets spread their wings and fly into the sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mariposa Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TeenyTinyTony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeenyTinyTony/gifts).



> So this was -going- to be my Gabriel Big Bang but I dropped out of it for both personal reasons and the fact it was //not// going to be finished in time, no chance at all, so I'm gonna start updating it now. It'll hopefully be weekly updates, can't promise it, but I'm hoping!  
> The fic came from a prompt from casandsip and I'm proud of where it evolved and changed into and so yeah here it is
> 
> ~*~ dedicated to TeenyTinyTony for listening to all the ramblings and receiving the 20 texts at 10am when I had a breakthrough with the fic and for being amazing okay this one's for you blue fave ~*~

**_pluviophile; (n) a lover of rain, someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days_ **

 

A storm was raging across the city with wind and rain that had people running for cover in every doorway that was free. The rain was tiny bullets that beat down incessantly on Gabriel’s umbrella as his foot tapped on the wet sidewalk. Every time the toe of his beat up red sneaker hit the concrete water splashed onto the other one, soaking through the blue material and dampening the sock beneath. He breathed in slowly, the smell of damp earth and dust filling his nose, the sheer sense of being  _ outside  _ making his head spin. He hadn’t felt like this in a very, very long time. 

Gabriel Novak was an artist. He painted in shades of black and white, and in every denomination of grey that he could create with his own two hands. His apartment was the direct opposite from that however, with piles of various coloured books on every surface, Jackson Pollock-esque walls that he did himself, and a bed covered in so many blankets it was hard to tell where they ended and where the mattress began. His apartment, according to his brother, smelt like paint fumes and cologne, and made his dust allergy even worse, but Gabriel didn’t really care. His apartment was home, and as long as it felt that way, then he was happy. 

 

That was of course until it rained. When it rained he got itchy fingers and a twitch in his shoulder that he could only soothe by going outside and getting wet. His manager would laugh at him about it from time to time and tell him he was supposed to be a fish but he brushed her off. Fish or no fish, he liked the rain. A woman and her son were hiding beneath shop front, her coat wrapped around her son. Judging by the look on her face she didn’t want to get wet, but was debating running into the water anyway. Gabriel stood, heading in their direction, umbrella pole resting on his shoulder. He got to the shop front and held the umbrella out to the woman who looked at him, confused. 

 “I don’t need it as much as you do.” The statement was simple and so was the smile she gave him as she took it, finally able to leave the shelter and hurry down the road towards her destination. He never tired of doing things like that for people. Why would he need an umbrella in the rain anyway? He only brought one because if he got sick Pamela would not stop jumping down his throat about his unhealthy tendencies and the rain. 

 

_  “Gabriel listen to me okay, you get another cold near a goddamn exhibition and people are gonna stop inviting us to them! I mean seriously man there’s been three this month you’ve turned up to looking like Rudolph the Red Nosed fucking Reindeer.” _

_  “I know that Pam but it’s November so it rains a lot and-” _

_  “Seriously, why do you need to go out in the rain every single time? I have watched you put down a hot dinner to go stand in the rain only to come back in and eat cold mashed potatoes.” _

_  “You wouldn’t understand, I’m sorry.” _

 

Now he’d given his umbrella away he knew he should go home. He started down the emptying streets, feet making quiet tapping noises as he walked. Other than the rain and his walking, the neighbourhood was silent. A rushing noise as a car drove past made him look up at the road and realise he was heading towards the art shop. He chewed his bottom lip as he carried on, head now held high, looking for the dulcet sign outside his favourite shop.  **We’re Still Open!** It read. Laura would come out and put the sign up when it rained, or snowed, or hailed.  _ Laura’s  _ never closed. He shouldered the door open and dropped his head, hair dripping onto the welcome mat just inside the door. 

 “Umbrella’s in the pot- oh, it’s you. Hey Gabriel.” Her voice floated over and he looked up at her through the wet golden curls. 

 “You got a towel?” Laura snorted and threw one at him. 

 “You know I do. Why’re you lookin’ like a drowned rat anyway Gabe?” He signalled for her to wait a second as he towelled his hair dry. 

 “Went for a walk, you know me. And then I saw a woman who needed an umbrella.” Laura just rolled her eyes, scoffing under her breath. “Any chance you just put the kettle on in your back room?” 

 “You’re lucky I like you Novak. I’ll go make you some tea.”

 “Thanks dollface.” He winked as he threw the towel back, laughing at Laura’s fake disgust at the dampness. He stretched a little before sitting in a corner on the floor, back against the wall. The art shop was one of this favourite places, the other being the coffee shop owned by Laura’s other siblings. She let him sketch in the corner, and he’d let her sell them and keep the money to make sure the shop stayed open. He and Laura made been friends since running into each other at college, her studying business management and him studying art and history. They became fast friends and never stopped contacting one another, and one day Laura called him to say she was opening a shop in his neighbourhood, specifically one for art supplies. He knew here was somewhere that he was  _ Safe.  _ Safe was a feeling he got in very few places. The art shop was one,  _ Noxolo Coffee  _ being the second, and his apartment the third. 

 “You seen my brother lately?” She called out from her tiny office and Gabriel shook his head before realising she couldn’t see him. 

 “Nah, I’ve not been into the shop in a while. Pam’s got me working because apparently there’s this thing in London coming up that she wants me to go for. I need a fucking  _ model  _ for the painting though and I’ll be damned before I find one.” Laura reappeared, two cups of tea in her hands, one she handed to Gabriel before sitting in her chair opposite him.

 “I’ll do it if you want, or I’ll ask Sekai to model for you.” He chuckled into the tea, loving the way Laura would willingly throw her sister into anything. 

 “You’d be perfect. If you just sit there and work and I’ll sit over here all quiet like and paint your gorgeous face.” He flashed her an extravagant wink and she snorted, leaning back in her chair, steaming cup in hand. 

 “You gonna paint me in colour this time?” Her tone was light and somewhat teasing as she eyed up the golden-haired man sitting in her corner. Gabriel simply shook his head and she shrugged before nodding in the direction of an easel and a large canvas. “Suit yourself Goldilocks. I’ll sit here and do some books if you’re okay with that sorta pose while you work.” Gabriel just shrugged, setting down his now empty cup. 

 “Sit comfortably, lemme take a few pics on my phone then you can do what you want, how’s that?” He dragged an easel complete with large canvas into the middle of the room, waiting for Laura to sit in a way that he knew she’d want him to paint. She picked a pose with her book in hand, eyes locked on a certain point on the page. Gabriel whipped his phone out, snapping a few pictures grateful for the good lighting in the shop before pulling his wallet out, throwing $50 onto her desk. 

 “What’s this for?” She asked, picking up the crisp notes, watching him pull a tin of watercolour paints from the stack near the door, and then a set of pencils. “Ah, right no worries.” He grunted, resting his phone on the side as he popped open the case, picking out a 2H pencil, poising it over the canvas. 

 “When I’m done with the sketch I’ll go get another 50 to thank you for your time.”

 “You don’t need to do that.”

 “But I’m gonna.”

 

After two hours he sat up a little straighter, tucking the now blunt pencil back away into the case, staring at the lightly outline image of Laura’s face on the canvas. He couldn’t deny the fact she was beautiful, what with her high cheekbones and dark skin, but it did nothing for him. He’d been asked many time by people if he was dating the girl he frequently painted, and he always said no. If he thought it wouldn’t send some of the older, more conservative art buyers into a fit of rage he’d come clean about being gay, but instead he just shrugged off all the questions. 

 “How’s it going?” She asked, looking up from where she’d been doing some of the tax shit that she was always complaining about, and had been asking Gabriel for his help on, shouting a calculation at him and waiting for him to shout the answer back.

 “Got the outline of your beau’ful face done, just gotta paint it now. Mind if I come back and do it tomorrow?”

 “No of course I don’t mind, go home Gabe. Call me later if you want some company, we can watch Airplane or something. I’ll text you tomorrow to give you a good time to come in as well.” She stood up to clap him on the back as he headed out into the rain that was still coming down, though nowhere nearly as hard as it had been earlier. 

 


End file.
